Growing Sustainably Since 1984

A Sustainable Future – How Meadow View Growers Strives to be Eco-Friendly

Parasitic wasp on aphid casing

Since its founding in 1984, Meadow View Growers (MVG) has placed great emphasis on beautifying as well as conserving, and protecting the environment. Throughout the years, we have striven to become the most sustainable and eco-friendly garden center in the area by adopting environmentally friendly cultural practices used to produce insect and disease free plants.

MVG has adopted the use of beneficial, or parasitic, insects to control pest insects that threaten damage to plants. An example of this is the “sachets” (small envelope packets) that you will find on each hanging basket that we grow. The sachet contains Amblyseius cucumeris, a beneficial predatory mite that is placed on the plants to protect them from thrip (bad insect) while they are in the greenhouse. Don’t worry, you can’t even see them with the naked eye! At purchase, customers take this colony of helpful insect’s home with them for continued protection.

MVG is also using other beneficial insects to combat other specific undesirable insects. These “bio-pesticides” reduce the environmental impact and improve the sustainability levels of pest control.

In 2008, nearly all hanging baskets were switched from traditional plastic to attractive biodegradable, organic containers. These hold more soil allowing for better root development and stronger, sturdier plants as well as reduce the amount of watering needed. They can also be reused or composted when the customer no longer needs them.

Not only is MVG doing its part to achieve sustainability, we encourage our customers to follow suit. We have “Weekender” hanging baskets available in spring. These baskets are eco-friendly, requiring much less water than a traditional hanging basket. Scott Robinson, our retail manager, tested the hanging basket at home and was thrilled with the results.

“I tried this at home one year and it really worked. It cut down on the watering of a very large cascading petunia basket, which I only watered every three or four days [versus every day] in the heat of the summer.”

In addition to beneficial insects and eco-friendly hanging baskets, we use drip irrigation and do a lot of hand watering at our facilities to avoid wasting water as we grow our plants.

Meadow View also pays close attention to our waste management system. When possible, the nursery/greenhouse washes, disinfects and reuses plastic trays and pots, and reuses pallets or sends them to a company that refurbishes them for resale to other cost conscience businesses. All cardboard is placed into a separate dumpster for recycling, and plant and soil compost is recycled into neighboring nurseries.

cathedral type open roof on greenhouses

Even Meadow View’s greenhouse contains the newest systems available for the utmost efficiency. The cathedral-type open roof reduces the energy usually needed for cooling, eliminating the need for large exhaust fans. Another way energy is conserved is through an energy curtain, which reduces natural gas demands during the heating season and provides cooling during the summer months.

As stewards of the land and environment around us, the owners and staff of Meadow View Growers don’t settle for the status quo when it comes to sustainability. We are continually looking for new technologies, new equipment and new methods to make our business more sustainable and eco-friendly, always keeping the environment and our customers in mind. In addition to using these eco-friendly practices to protect our environment, most of them also just make good business sense.